Usually, I’m not a fan of rock/metal, but Nightwish is an exception, I just love them. Sadly, their vocalist Tarja Turunen was fired and she began her solo career. She’s a professional soprano and that’s why I love her so much. In 2008, I bought a ticket to see her in Bogotá, Colombia for her Winter Storm Tour, but sadly I lost that money because I never got to plan my trip.

When Tarja announced that she was coming to Venezuela, I screamed of excitement! I just couldn’t believe it. The ticket sales were supposed to be in early March but no information was available, until one day that finally the date of sales was announced and the price information as well: it was way cheaper than I imagined! And it was one price only, no general or VIP sections.

That day, I woke up early and went to the Esperanto record store in San Ignacio Mall, it was like 7 in the morning. For my surprise, there were already 4 people in line! The sale opened at 10 am and I was the 5th person to get my ticket! Also, I met a few fans of Tarja and we exchanged cellphone numbers and e-mails to stay in touch for the concert.

Days later, a Fan Club group was created in Facebook and I joined of course, there we had every information about Tarja. One of the highlights was the notification about Tarja’s signing sessions the day before the concert! I was going insane! (I’ll write later about how I met her!).

May 20th: I woke up at 6 am, tired but happy because of the signing sessions. Took a taxi to the mall and there was already a line going on outside the mall! I was like the 20th something person to arrive. Again, we made a list to maintain the order of who came first.

At 10 am, we finally got inside the mall and began to do the line in front of the entrance to the Venue. I met with more friends there and the marathon was about to being: sitting/standing there until 9 pm! I couldn’t believe that I had to wait so many hours! At noon, me and some friends went to buy food while others were taking care of our positions in the line. In the afternoon, a big rain storm began -no, it wasn’t rain storm, it was a flood!- Thank god we were inside. By the way, the security was very ANNOYING in everything! They didn’t allow us to seat on the floor, move out to somewhere else, no pictures, etc., it was a pain in the ass!

Near 9 pm, the security people began deliver some numbers, to keep up the entrance order, but many people got in our way and entered first than us! About 9:30 pm, a big riot was about to begin, it was already half hour late and we still doing the line, also, there were many crazy emo-rock guys that were drunk or stoned or whatever that wanted to cause disturbs, which in case that it would’ve happened, it would affect us all!

Finally we got in, almost at 10 pm, and for my surprise (being one of the first to get in) there was already 3 rows of people in front of the stage!!! Unbelievable! Ah, don’t miss this: the venue was SUPER SMALL (20 meters width, 40 in height) and had no air conditioners! So I was very very near the stage, and people were coming and coming, I already began to feel sofocated.

When Tarja finally appeared, singing “Lost Northern” star, everyone screamed and sang. But in the 2nd song, there were some IDIOTS that began to push everyone side to side, and I almost fell. I wasn’t enjoying the concert: between the pushing, the lack of air and being aware of my personal belongings, I really wanted to get out of there. So during the 3rd song, “She Is My Sin”, me and my friend Jhon, began to walk to the back of the venue. During the Band interlude, we finally got out of the insane crowd that was near the stage and walked of to buy some sodas.

In the back of the “room” (small venue, seemed like a f***in’ room) there was PLENTY OF SPACE! We still saw Tarja at her best, could breathe, dance, sing and smoke! It was AMAZING! No riots, people just standing and enjoying the concert, as it should be! I recorded 4 videos (yes! Tarja allows cameras in her concerts!). When she sang Nightwish’s songs, everyone went insane.

Tarja sang her “final” song, Oasis and left. Everyone began to scream and request another song, the most requested was “The Phantom of the Opera” but sadly, Tarja didn’t have a male singer in her band. Suddenly, the band came again and everyone began to cheer, and out of nothing there it was: MASTER! APPRENTICE!!!!! Tarja singing Wishmaster! I banged my head like I never did!

The concert was over and they played a remix of one Schiller’s song where Tarja collaborated called “Tired of Being Alone”, Jhon and I stood there singing that song haha! When I was exiting the place, I saw a friend from college that I never expected to see in a concert like this, because she’s all about spanish romantic songs, not hard metal opera songs! haha.

It was midnight, and the line for the taxis was big and thank god I didn’t spend my last 30 bucks, because that was how much the taxi charged me to my home!

[Pictures and videos at the end of the post!]

How I met Tarja Turunen:

Tarja Turunen & Me

As I said before, all the information was sent through the Facebook’s group. A week earlier the concert, the producers announced that there was going to be a signing session the day before the concert (May 19th) in the Esperanto record store. I couldn’t believe it!

Now the question was, what will I bring for her to sign? I remembered that my friend Susana bought me 2 years ago, the Extreme Limited Edition of Tarja’s “My Winter Storm” album in 2-LP Vinyl format, but we never got to meet and she moved to Spain last november!

So I called her and she said that I should call her ex-boyfriend because he had my disc. The sunday before the week’s concert, I went to his house and he gave me my vinyl, finally!

On May 19th, I got up at 4:30 am, took a show and arrived at the mall at 5:20 am! There was no one there, I felt happy to be the first but no, a girl approached to me and said: – Are you here for Tarja’s signing sessions? – and I said yes. I walked to the stairs and there were already five people in line! There was a list that we had to sign our names, so we could know who was first.

It was almost noon and there were MANY people in line, the security of the mall was a pain in the ass again! We couldn’t be inside the mall, we couldn’t stand in front of other business front doors, etc. So finally, a representative of Profit Productions came, and gave us a ticket with a number on it, that was the number of entrance to the store to meet Tarja. After being all morning thirsty, hungry and tired, once we had our numbers, Jhon, his friends and me went to lunch and walk through the Mall.

It was 7 pm and Tarja was about to come. We were already in our line. We were informed that Tarja would sign only ONE item per person and that gave me anger: I had the vinyl disc, the extended CD edition and a Japanese Nightwish’s single… Oh well, I’ll guess I’ll chose the vinyl.

FINALLY IT IS MY TURN! I go inside the record store and I see Tarja sitting there signing a poster to a guy. The security people were so mean, they pushed everyone and hurried everyone, you barely could say hi to her 😦 So, it was my turn, I approached to her very nervous and she says to me: – Hola! – (yes, she speaks Spanish) but I wanted to give her a good impression and knowing that her spanish ISN’T THAT PERFECT, I replied her in english: – Hi! -. I extend my vinyl to her and her face expressions was surprised! She said to me: – Oh wow! This is nice! Where did you get it? – and I said: – Well, I bought it in London last year! -, she was going to tell me something but the IDIOT WOMAN of the security screamed at me: STOP TALKING THAT MUCH TO HER, HURRY UP!

I was so angry! But I didn’t listen to her. Tarja asked my name and signed me my Vinyl! – Picture? – she said. But of course!!! When I turn back, there was NO ONE to hold my camera and take a picture, but I saw a guy behind me and screamed him desperately: – HEY, TAKE A PICTURE QUICK! PLEASE! -. So he did. I thanked Tarja and walked away, when I turned back to look at her once again, she threw me a kiss!

Once I was outside, everyone were HALLUCINATING with my autographed Vinyl disc! 😀 Here’s the picture: